Guy Maddin has constructed an unworldly, beautifully elegiac and literarily faithful rendition of Bram Stroker?s Dracula in silent ballet. Up until this film, my favorite contemporary Dracula adaptation had been Francis Ford Coppola?s film, but Maddin?s film has knocked me out of my socks in one of the weirdest movies I?ve ever seen. Stylistically, the film looks and feels as if it had Guy Maddin has constructed an unworldly, beautifully elegiac and literarily faithful rendition of Bram Stroker?s Dracula in silent ballet. Up until this film, my favorite contemporary Dracula adaptation had been Francis Ford Coppola?s film, but Maddin?s film has knocked me out of my socks in one of the weirdest movies I?ve ever seen. Stylistically, the film looks and feels as if it had been stored in a vault for 80 years and has just now been uncovered. It is scrappy and jolty rhythmically and unfolds in ballet sets. The dances are fascinating and compelled me throughout on its hyper driven warp of engagement. What he has obtained is dreamy beyond this time?s comprehensibility. He has used a style of the past of cinema and presents his oeuvre that completely transcends anything that has ever been done with Dracula. The ballet dances invigorate and entrancement of the words, seeing Van Helsing and crew take down Mina is astonishing in how it is delivered. The final product here is rich and sensuous, it invigorates the horror genre in a completely original working and comes out as quite dreamy interpretation of words. …Expand

Maddin takes on his first commissioned feature--an adaptation of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's production of Dracula--and succeeds brilliantly, making it his own while offering what may be the most faithful screen version to date of Bram Stoker's novel.